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THE NEW YORKER, FEBRUARY 4, 2013
Mehmet offers both as if they were one."
He continued, "It all seems to be in
the service of putting on a show. And,
when you add it up, that seems like some-
thing other than medicine. It s more like
medutainment." Topol was not the only
voice to offer that kind of comment. One
day, I asked Oz whether he minded that
many of his medical peers criticized him
for following the dictates of daytime tele-
vision more than the demands of scientific
truth. "I have always played offense," he
responded. "So I don t care what people
callme.Iusedto.IfeltthattosayIwas
an entertainer was dismissive. But it is
partofwhatIhavetodo.Iwanttogetmy
message across to people who are not
going to get it in other ways. And I can t
do that if I am not palatable to the people
who watch the show."
Oz refers to the academic world as a
"fortress," and he is determined to
tear down its walls. In the past, his en-
thusiasms, even when unsupported by
data, have usually fulfilled the Hippo-
cratic oath to do no harm. Lately, how-
ever, he seems to have moved more
firmly into the realm of tenuous treat-
ments for serious conditions. On one re-
cent episode, "Dr. Oz s 13 Miracles for
2013," he included "a revolutionary new
way to live years longer: it s red palm oil."
He went on, "Its red color is perfect, be-
cause I think of it as a stop sign for aging."
I asked Oz several times why he pro-
motes that kind of product, and allows
psychics, homeopaths, and purveyors of
improbable diet plans and dietary supple-
ments to appear on the show. He said
that he takes his role as a medium be-
tween medicine and the people seriously,
and he feels that such programs offer his
audience a broader perspective on health.
"Ultimately, if we want to fix Ameri-
can medicine we will need skeptical
and smart patients to dominate," he said.
"They will need to ask the hard ques-
tions, because much of medicine is just
plain old logic. So I am out there trying
to persuade people to be those patients.
And that often means telling them what
the establishment doesn t want them to
hear: that their answers are not the only
answers, and their medicine is not the
only medicine." But, when he tells his
audience, with no credible evidence,
that red palm oil may reduce the risk of
Alzheimer s disease, is he empowering
people? Or is he encouraging them to
e ndanger their health with another
"miracle"?
On October 17th, Oz broadcast a pro-
gram titled "GMO Foods: Are They
Dangerous to Your Health?" Oz was not
subtle. "You re probably eating them right
now and don t even know," he began,
darkly invoking "the brave new world of
food. Are they safe?" Oz then introduced
Jeffrey Smith, the author of "Genetic
Roulette," who says that engineered foods
may cause many serious diseases, includ-
ing colitis, asthma, and cancer. Smith has
also made a film version of the book; Oz,
for the sake of full disclosure, noted that
"my wife, Lisa, was a narrator in Jeffrey s
film." He added that no scientists were
willing to share the stage with Smith. "So
today we are doing something we have
never done before," Oz said. "After Jeffrey
makes his points, he has to leave the stage
before we can speak with the scientists
in favor of genetically modified foods."
Other than to say that Smith was contro-
versial, Oz did not indicate why no scien-
tists would appear with him.
When I asked Lisa about her involve-
ment, she said that Smith presented a point
of view that needed to be heard, and that
the safety of genetically modified foods has
not been proved. "I think Mehmet and I
both feel, in general, that our mission is to
empower the viewer or reader," she said.
"To give them the most information and
the greatest number of tools they can use to
make their own choices."
On the show, Oz identified Smith as
a scientist, but Smith has no experience
in genetics or agriculture, and has no
scientific degree from any institution. He
studied business at the Maharishi Inter-
national University, founded by the Ma-
harishi Mahesh Yogi. Before the show
aired, Bruce Chassy, a noted molecular
biologist, wrote to Oz; he is a founder of
Academics Review, a group of research-
ers who often debunk popular scientific
claims. Chassy is professor emeritus in the
department of food science and human
nutrition at the University of Illinois. "As
a public-sector scientist, researcher, and
academic administrator with more than
forty years experience, I am appalled that
any medical professional would give a
platform to the likes of Mr. Jeffrey Smith
to impart health information to the pub-
lic," Chassy wrote. "His only professional
experience prior to taking up his crusade
against biotechnology is as a ballroom-
dance teacher, yogic flying instructor, and
political candidate for the Maharishi cult s
natural-law party."
Graphic images of rats covered in tu-
mors appeared on a monitor; the images
were taken from a study, published in
September, contending that the tumors
were caused by genetically modified corn.
The study was publicized widely through-
out the world, but it was denounced by
the European Union Food Safety Au-
thority, rejected in a rare joint statement
by the six French national scientific acad-
emies, and ridiculed by scores of scientists.
None of that deterred Smith, who at-
tacked the Food and Drug Administra-
tion for "ignoring" these problems. On
the show, Oz never challenged him, al-
though agricultural biotechnology has
been under review by the F.D.A. for de-
cades, and no agency, in the United States
or anywhere else, has found evidence that
genetically modified foods are metabo-
lized by the body any differently from any
other type of food.
There are many legitimate and articu-
late opponents of genetically modified
products and, for that matter, of conven-
tional medicine itself. But Oz has con-
sistently chosen guests with dubious au-
thority to argue those positions. Joseph
Mercola, an osteopath, runs mercola.com,
one of the most popular alternative-health
Web sites in the country. Oz has described
Mercola as a "pioneer in holistic treat-
ments," and as a man "your doctor doesn t
want you to listen to." This is undoubtedly
true, since Mercola has promoted such al-
leged experts as Tullio Simoncini, who
claims that cancer is a fungus that can be
cured with baking soda. Mercola has long
argued that vaccines are dangerous and
that they even cause AIDS. When Oz says
that Mercola is "challenging everything
you think you know about traditional
medicine and prescription drugs," it s hard
to argue. "I m usually earnestly honest and
modest about what I think we ve accom-
plished," Oz told me when we discussed
his choice of guests. "If I don t have Mer-
cola on my show, I have thrown away the
biggest opportunity that I have been
given."
I had no idea what he meant. How was
it Oz s "biggest opportunity" to introduce
a guest who explicitly rejects the tenets of
science? "The fact that I am a professor---
one of the youngest professors ever---at